Track-sanding apparatus.



(No Model.)

Patented Jan. l6, I900. c. w. SHERBUBNE.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS;

(Application flied Oct. 28, 1899.)

4 SheetsSheat I.

THE NORRIS PETERS co. PHDTQ-L1TH'J.,WASNINGTQN. n. cy

No. 64l,338. Patented Jan. 16, I900. B. W. SHERBURNE.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Oct. 28, 1899.)

(" L) 4 Sheets$haet 2.

Nu. 64|,338. Patented Jan. l6, I900. C. W. SHERBURNE.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Oct. 28, 1899.]

4 Sheets8heet 3.

(No Model.)

WI THESSES:

m: NoRms PETERS co, wnoroumo. WASHINGTON, n. c.

Patented m. I6, I900.

N0. 64|,338. C. W.' SHERBURNE.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Oct. 28, 1899.)

4 Sheets8haet 4-.

(No Model.)

Wrrphzsszs:

UNITED STATES P TE T OFFICE.

CHARLES w.;sI1ERBURNE, or BOSTON, MAssAoHUsETTs- TRACK-SANDINGAPPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.641,338, dated January16, 1900. Application filed October 28, 1899.. Serial No. 735,080. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. SHER- BURNE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvementin-Track-Sanding Appa-.

ratus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in explaining its nature.

The invention relates to the class of tracksanding devices in which airis used for feeding the sand fromthe sand-box; and it consists inincorporating in the engineers valve of an automatic train-brake systema means for supplying and controlling the supply of air to the sand. Itis desirable thatthe operation of the engineers valve shall in .settingthe brakes also simultaneously operate the track-sanding device; and myinvent-ion is so embodied in the engineers valve that the sand-feed maytake place during the ordinary service use of the valve or during itsemergency use only, or during both uses of said valve. a manner topermit of the operation of the sanding device independently of theoperation of the engineers valve.

Referring to the drawings,Figure 1 is a view in plan of my improvedapparatuswith the rotary valve and cap removed. Fig. 2 is a viewprincipally in side elevation, a part of the structure being broken awayto show the construction of the valve, and the sand air ports andpassages being represented by dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a horizontalsection upon the dotted line3 3 of Fig. 2. Figs. 4. and 5 show anair-sift feed, to which reference-is hereinafter made. Fig. 6 is a planof the rotary valve. Fig. 7 is a plan .of the rotary valve inverted toshow the air-port when arranged to feed air automatically only upon anemergency stop. Fig. 8 is a view in plan inverted of the rotary valve,showing the airport when constructed to feed air for both the serviceand emergency stops.

I have represented in the drawings my invention as applied to thewell-known engineers valve of the Westinghouse air-brake system. It isnot necessary to describe the entire construction and operation of saidvalve here; but I will briefly enumerate the It is also applied to thevalve'in' i? parts thereof which are used in applying my inventionthereto.

A is the usual'valve-casing.

B is the rotary valve, seated upon the stationary valve-seat b, in whichseat are the usual air-ports of the valve, which are 0011- nected ordisconnected by the movement of the rotary valve.

C is a key at the inner end of the valve= stem 0 and which is containedin a keyway b in the outer end of the rotary valve. The valve-stem alsohas a cylindrical extension 0, which is integral with it and which iscontained in a cavity dof a cap D. This cap has v a bearing'c for thevalve-stem'and screws over the rotary valve into the valve-casing. Uponthe outer endof the stem 0 is the valveoperating lever 0'. I

For the ordinary work, known as service work, meaning the operation ofthe brakes for usual train stops, the valve is rotated a portion of arevolution by the handle, the extent of such movement being. usuallydetermined by the engagement of a spring-catch on the handle with astationary latch-recess on the valve. i

For emergency work-41 6., for making a quicker stop than is made by theservice stop-- the valve is adapted to be additionally rotated beyondthe position at which the latch engages the catch, and the catch isofsnch a nature that the latch can be moved past it to permit of thisadditional movement of the rotary valve when it may be necessary to soopcrate it. These parts are common to the Westinghouse engine-brake.

I will now describe the application of my invention to the valve,calling attention to the fact that I employ the same rotary valve as isused for governing the train-brake without changing in any respect theconstruction of the valve or that of the valve seat. The valve -casingis also unchanged, excepting that it has a hole E tapped or otherwiseformed in it for receiving one end of the valve-casing e, forming a partof the connection between the air-valve and the sand-box or sand-feedingdevices. This hole E is arranged between the two .ports I) b in thevalve-seat. It is connected with the air-chamber a above the valve-seatby two small passages or ports e too and c in the valve-seat. The port aconnects with a passage 0 in the valve-case e and the port 6 with thepassage 6 in said valve-case. The first of these ports is the one whichis controlled by the rotary trainbrake valve B. Thesecond of these portsis not controlled by the rotary valve, it having continuous connectionwith the air-chamber 6 above the rotary valve by means of the spaceabout the valve, the said valve not being fitted upon its cylindricaledge tightly in the valve-casing, and thus forming a passage for the airto pass between it and the casing from the chamber 6 to the port a,which is in the valve-seat in line with the wall of the valve-chamber.(See Fig. 1.) The air under pressure is therefore constantly present inthe said port 6 and passage 6 of the valve; but it is prevented fromflowing through said passage, excepting when desired, by means of thehand-valve E in said valve-casing.

The port e is opened and closed with the rotary brake-valveB by thebrake-valve lever, and it is represented as connected with theair-chamber e by a hole a extending through the rotary valve and whichfor convenience is placed near the center of the valve and has at itsupper end a lateral extension e to connect it with the chamber. Thelocation and direction of this hole in the rotary brake-valve, however,may be varied at will, so long as its inner end is adapted to be broughtinto line with the port a upon the turning of the valve. The time at.which it is connected with the port determines thetime when theautomatic flow of the air, and there: fore the sand, begins, and theconnection may be so shaped as to establish a flow of air immediatelyupon a slight turning of the valve and to continue such flow throughoutthe entire service and emergency movements of the rotary valve, or itmay be arranged to continue during the service movement only or aportion of the service movement or during the emergency movement only ora portion of the emergency movement, these results being governed 'bythe length and position of the entrance e to the port e in thestationary seat as respects the hole in the rotary valve. In Fig. 8 ofthe drawings I have represented the connection between the hole 6 andthe port e as continuous throughout the service and emergency stops andin Fig. 7 as continuous only during the emergency stop and as notconnected during the service stop, so that the sand then automaticallyfeeds only during emergency stop.

The valve-casing e, as above indicated, has one uninterrupted passageextending continuously through it from end to end and through which theair released by the turning of the rotary valve of the train-brake flowsto the pipe E extending to the sand holding and distributing devices,and an additional passage extending from the end of the casing,connected with the air-supply through or in the train-brake-valvecasing. This passage is connected or disconnected with the continsage eand is controlled by a conical valve f movable withrespect to theconical side f and arranged at the inner end of the valveoperatingspindlef which is held to the valve by a cap j, which screws into thebody of the valve. It will be understood that this valve is operated byhand and is used when it is desired tofeed sand to the tracks withoutoperating the brakes, the compressed air then I passing from. the brakesystem through the engine-valve and passage e.

In Figs. 4 and 5 I haverepresented the sanding device as provided with asight feed or means whereby the flow of air and the velocity of the flowmay be seen. It consists in diverting the passage 6 into a side chamberG and connecting said chamber again with the passage by the hole g.

The opening to the chamber and the out let therefrom are out of line,and balls or other objects movable by air are interposed between them.The air passing into the charm 5 her strikes the balls or other objectsand moves the same in the chamber, and thus indicates whether air ispassing through the chamber andat what speed or force it is passing, theair agitating the balls or' other de- I00 vices more or less, accordingto the extent of the pressure. I

The side chamber comprises a tube 9, of glass or other transparentmaterial, confined in an open metal frame 9 which. is screwed to thevalve-body, and the tube, of glass, is held in the case by a cap 9 whichscrews upon the metal case. A packing is arranged between the cap andthe edge of i the tube. (See Fig. 5.)

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is r y i 1. An engineers air-valve for acombined train brake and track. sanding apparatus,, I I 5 having astationary valve-seat provided with the train-brake air-ports and atrack-sanding air=port,and a rotary valve having train-brake air-portsand a track sanding air-passage which is adapted, upon themovement ofthe rotary valve in applying the brakes, to make an operative connectionwith the track-sanding air-portin the stationary seat, as and for thepurposes described.

2. An engineers air-valve for a combined train-brake andtrack-sandingapparatus having a stationary valve seat provided withtrain-brake air-ports, a track-sanding air-passage and a track-sandingair-port, a rotary valve having train-brake air-ports and a tracksandingair-passage, which latter, upon the rotation of the valve, is adaptedtobe connected with the track-sanding air-port in the stationary seat,an air-chamber upon the side of the rotary valve opposite the valve-seatand a connection or passage from said chamber to the track-sandingair-passage in the valve-seat, as and for the purposes described.

3. An engineers air-valve for a combined train-brake and track-sandingapparatus having a stationary valve-seat provided with the usualtrain-brake air-ports, a tracksanding air-passage and a track-sandingair-port, a rotary valve having the usual train-brake airports and atrack-sanding air-passage which is adapted, upon the rotation of thevalve, to make connection with the track-sanding airport in thestationary seat, an air-chamber upon the side of the rotary valveopposite the stationary seat, an air passage from said chamber to thetrack-sanding air-passage in the stationary seat and a hand-operative,independent valve to open and close said lastnamed passage.

4. An engineers air-valve for a combined train-brake and track-sandingapparatus, having a stationary valve-seat provided with theusualtrain-brake air-ports and also provided with a track-sandingair-port, a rotary valve having the usual train-brake air-ports and atrack-sanding air-passage, which valve is adapted to have imparted to ita movement for a service stop and an additional movement for anemergency stop, the said tracksanding air-port in the stationary valveand the said air-passage in the rotary valve not making connectionduring the movement of the rotary valve in service stops and only makingconnection during the movement of the valve in emergency stops, as andfor the purposes set forth.

5. In a track-sanding apparatus, a sight feed chamber through which theair supplying the sand box or pipe passes, having an air-inlet at thelower end of said chamber, an air-outlet from the upper end of said chamher and interposed independent indicators contained in the chambersbelow the air-outlet and adapted to be moved by the air in its passagethrough the chamber.

CHARLES W. SHERBURNE.

WVitnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. M. DOLAN.

